1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a walking guidance apparatus adaptive for the visually impaired and, more particularly, to a walking guidance apparatus capable of providing walking guidance to the visually impaired through human body communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, the visually impaired recognize their location or a risk factor by detecting a guide block installed in the middle of a footpath, a sidewalk, or a pavement to guide them to a crossing, a door of a vehicles, stairways, and the like, which needs an attention or to a particular location in using a stick while on the move.
Research and development have been conducted to provide more convenient and safer walking guidance information to the visually impaired by applying an IT and communication technique to the guidance stick always carried around by the visually impaired, in line with the advancement of IT technology.
For example, devices and methods of installing an integrated circuit having a communication function in a stick, receiving information provided from communication systems installed on the road, processing the received information, and providing audible walking guidance information to the visually impaired have been proposed as the application of IT and communications technique for allowing the visually impaired to safely walk.
For example, research outcomes of a walking guidance information providing technique, based on a traffic communication environment in which road status information such as road locations, geographical changes, obstacles, construction sites, temperature, humidity, pollution status, congestion, and the like, are mounted in an intelligent transfer system (ITS) installed on roads or in particular sites of structures, have been presented.
Examples of utilizing the ITS with sticks for the visually impaired include devices and methods of receiving walking guidance information by applying RFID, GPS, infrared light or visible light communication scheme to the sticks, and providing the received walking guidance information to the visually impaired.
Among the foregoing methods, the visible light communication scheme is currently under discussion by an international standardization group (IEEE 802.15.7). The visible light communication scheme is advantageous in that various types of road status information can be acquired without having to alter existing traffic lights or illumination facilities, and when bi-directional communications are realized, an optimum communication environment in which a user can be informed of a dangerous situation in real time can be established. For example, the use of the visible light communication scheme allows for the easy acquisition of various types of road status information, including location information on the roads or indoor and outdoor areas by simply replacing light sources of traffic lights or illumination facilities with LED (Light Emitting Diodes) elements for visible light communications, unlike the GPS scheme.
Meanwhile, in order to provide acquired walking guidance information to users, the sticks of the visually impaired having the conventional communication function as described above use a method of providing walking guidance information through an earphone connected to the stick or a method of providing walking guidance information by using Bluetooth™ communication scheme.
When road information is provided to the visually impaired by using an earphone, an earphone connection line connected to the stick may be disconnected, the stick and the earphone connection line may be in poor contact with each other, or the earphone connection line may become entangled or stuck, so the visually impaired must pay careful attention to their movements, and in this case, a psychological feeling of insecurity may be caused while the visually impaired use their stick.
Meanwhile, when the acquired walking guidance information is provided by using Bluetooth™, because a Bluetooth™ function is added to a communication device installed in the stick to transmit an audible signal, crosstalk or jamming may be caused according to a walking environment of the visually impaired, which may result in a failure of receiving importance road information to potentially put the visually impaired into a serious risky situation in terms of security and safety.